1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a reserve tank structure for storing pachinko balls when those in a pachinko island of an amusement arcade are more than enough and for supplying the pachinko balls in stock to the pachinko island when those in the island are not enough.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in an amusement arcade such as a pachinko parlor, a player throws the pachinko balls, which were received as prizes from the pachinko machine, into a ball counter to record the number of the pachinko balls such as on a receipt paper or a magnetic recording card, and then brings the receipt paper or magnetic recording card to an exchange counter for exchange with a premium. Meanwhile the pachinko balls put into the ball counter are collected to be redistributed to the individual pachinko machines and ball dispensers, thus being circulated through the island.
A circulation system for pachinko balls is currently known in which a polishing and lifting device is located above a lower tank communicating with a collecting gutter extending slantly in the lower part of the pachinko island so that pachinko balls flown over the polishing and lifting device can be supplied to a reserve tank communicating with the collection gutter. This known art is exemplified by our coassigned Japanese Patent Application No. Hei 3-85013, in which there is equipped with a large reserve tank having in its bottom an opening through which pachinko balls are to be supplied to the collecting gutter.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 9 of the accompanying drawings, a plurality of pachinko islands 2 are provided in an amusement arcade 1 in parallel relationship with an aisle 3 between adjacent islands. On opposite sides of each pachinko island 2, a pair of arrays of pachinko machines 21 are installed with a ball dispenser 22 between adjacent pachinko machines 21, 21. In the center of each pachinko machine array, there is also installed a ball counter 51, which serves as a ball collector to collect the pachinko balls, which were received from outside the island as returned by players, into the island.
As shown in FIG. 10, there are in each pachinko island 2 upper and lower tanks 24, 31 for storing pachinko balls in the island. Each pachinko island 2 also has an upper path 25 extending over the individual pachinko machines 21 and ball dispensers 22 from the upper tank 24, and a lower path 26 extending under the individual pachinko machines 21 from the upper tank 24.
Downstream of the lower path 26, there is situated a polishing device. Thus in each pachinko island 2, pachinko balls in the upper tank 24 are supplied to the individual pachinko machines 21 via the upper path 25 and a ball supplier 123, and are also supplied to the individual ball dispensers 122 via the upper path 25 so that a quantity of pachinko balls according to the amount of money inserted by a customer can be dispensed to the customer. The pachinko balls inserted into the individual pachinko machines 21 by players, i.e. from outside the island, flow into the lower path 26. The pachinko balls collected from the ball counter 51 are discharged to the lower path 26, which serves as a ball collecting path, via the lower tank 31, and the pachinko balls collected from the lower path 26 are raised into the upper tank 24 by the polishing device 27.
The lower tank 31 is located below the upper tank 24 having in its bottom an opening from which pachinko balls are to be discharged to the lower path 26. In the opening 43 of the lower tank 31, there is located a shutter 44 for regulating the quantity of pachinko balls to be discharged from the lower tank 31.
The upper and lower tanks 24, 31 are connected with each other by an overflow tube 29 through which the pachinko balls which have overflowed from the upper tank 24 are transferred to the lower tank 31.
The pachinko balls in the upper tank 24 are supplied to the individual pachinko machines 21 and the individual ball dispensers 22, and the pachinko balls inserted into the individual pachinko machines by players flow into the lower path 26. Meanwhile, the pachinko balls returned to the ball counter 51 from players flow into the lower path via the lower tank 31 after being counted by the ball counter 51. The pachinko balls collected from the lower path 26 are raised into the upper tank 24 by the polishing device 27, which polishes the pachinko balls while lifting. The pachinko balls overflown from the upper tank 24 are transferred to the lower tank 31 through the overflow tube 29. Thus pachinko balls are circulated in the pachinko island 2.
However, with the known arrangement, since the single large reserve tank has a large bottom surface, bridging of balls tends to occur on the bottom surface at the upper side away from the opening so that many pachinko balls will be not be discharged out of the reserve tank and then will stay there as dead balls. Consequently these remaining pachinko balls would finally be rust. Further, since a lot of pachinko balls are discharged at once to the collecting gutter, the pachinko balls in the collecting gutter would not flow smoothly and would tend to get clogged.